[Jskass]

On Pivec - she is the glue. Solid ball handling, passing and assists, shooting and she gets rebounds even vs people several inches taller. Real high b-ball IQ and knows where to be. Slocum still learning their system so they will be a stronger and stronger duo as the year progresses.

[Jskass]

On Pivec - she is the glue. Solid ball handling, passing and assists, shooting and she gets rebounds even vs people several inches taller. Real high b-ball IQ and knows where to be. Slocum still learning their system so they will be a stronger and stronger duo as the year progresses.

[2006alum]

True, and Rapp was a classmate, so I was an even bigger fan! But that was also during the tail end of our last weak(er) stretch before Wiggins brought us back to our first final four in a decade, and we're a much deeper (and likely to become even deeper) team than we were back then. Over the next few seasons, she'll be competing for playing perimeter time with Williams, Wilson, the Hulls, and Jump. And in a Princeton offense, even our bigs like Fingall (and presumably Prechtel and Brink, given their all-court games) will be positioned at the wing to threaten a trey, so that's why I'm hoping to see more defensive development during this season. My general sense in recent years has been that if a player isn't getting significant minutes by the beginning of their junior year, they don't really make much of an impact for us. The closest two exceptions are Bri Roberson and Ruef, but both of them were filling big gaps from the prior year's graduates.

[2006alum]

True, and Rapp was a classmate, so I was an even bigger fan! But that was also during the tail end of our last weak(er) stretch before Wiggins brought us back to our first final four in a decade, and we're a much deeper (and likely to become even deeper) team than we were back then. Over the next few seasons, she'll be competing for playing perimeter time with Williams, Wilson, the Hulls, and Jump. And in a Princeton offense, even our bigs like Fingall (and presumably Prechtel and Brink, given their all-court games) will be positioned at the wing to threaten a trey, so that's why I'm hoping to see more defensive development during this season. My general sense in recent years has been that if a player isn't getting significant minutes by the beginning of their junior year, they don't really make much of an impact for us. The closest two exceptions are Bri Roberson and Ruef, but both of them were filling big gaps from the prior year's graduates.

[JJJ]

Here's the recap on American vs UH yesterday:

The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team came up short against American University on Friday night, 69-57 in its opening game of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown at the Stan Sheriff Center. 

 
The Rainbow Wahine (1-5) dropped their fifth game of the season, and Friday's matchup marks the first time UH lost by double-digits. The Eagles (3-1) bounced back from a 29-point loss at Denver on Dec. 19 and will take on No. 8 Stanford tomorrow at noon.

http://hawaiiathletics.com/news/2018/11/...69-57.aspx

[JJJ]

Here's the recap on American vs UH yesterday:

The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team came up short against American University on Friday night, 69-57 in its opening game of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown at the Stan Sheriff Center. 

 
The Rainbow Wahine (1-5) dropped their fifth game of the season, and Friday's matchup marks the first time UH lost by double-digits. The Eagles (3-1) bounced back from a 29-point loss at Denver on Dec. 19 and will take on No. 8 Stanford tomorrow at noon.

http://hawaiiathletics.com/news/2018/11/...69-57.aspx

[81alum]

Stanford vs. American

Stanford starts the same five as yesterday: Fingall Smith Carrington Wilson Williams

Lexie is wearing a boot.

First Quarter

American began in player on player defense and we turned it over on our first possession.  After a couple of misses and an American turnover Smith got a turnaround jumper for the first points, but then Alanna picked up an early foul on defense trying to stop a back door cut and left for Dodson.  Then Nadia hit a three to get her scoring started.   Dijonai however seems to have been injured and limped off the floor only four minutes into the game, favoring her left leg with the brace and returned to the locker room.  Lacey came in for D.  Williams, meanwhile, got back to her normal long range bombing and made a trey for an 11-2 lead, and Lacey followed that with a steal off an inbounds.  Alexa entered the rotation with Lexie and Dijonai nursing injuries, and Alanna got into the trey game with a long-range-make for a 15-6 lead.  Pretty good defense and slightly disjointed offense with 3 treys concluded the first quarter Stanford 17-10.

Second Quarter

With the football game resuming after halftime on the other channel, my updates will slow down a little.  Carrington did come back after the first quarter and checked back into the game.  Whew!  Smith opened the second quarter with a trey, followed with a layup.  The game seemed to become a defensive slugfest for a stretch, but we clawed our way to a 24-12 lead early in the 2nd quarter.  The officials allowed a lot of rough contact on both sides, according to the announcer.   Nadia went out after crashing her hip into the floor.  A couple of minutes later, Kiana Williams went down and hobbled off the court.  Despite the carnage, we clung to a 30-23 lead by the end of the half as our team of mostly non-starters backups could not score points over the past 4 minutes.  

The first half was a poor offensive show, with only 32% shooting, but a good defensively, holding American to 23 points for the half.  Smith finished the half with 10 points and kept away from any more fouls--six of her points came from long range.  From the game call we were not getting the ball inside that successfully.

Third Quarter

Tara started Lacey, Fingall, Carrington, Smith, and Williams, so Carrington, Fingall and Williams all seemed to be good to go, despite a few bruises.  The third quarter started poorly with some misses and American closed the gap to 32-26, but Kianna got a long pass from Smith for a fast break basket.  Then American went on a 5-0 run to close the gap to 5.  Through most of the third the game certainly seemed closer than perhaps Stanford expected, and the announcer noted that we looked tired compared with last night.  Turnovers and cold shooting helped this defensive slugfest crawl to a 45-39 lead, much too close for comfort.

Fourth Quarter

We opened with a 2-3 zone with Lacie at the top of it.  Then the floodgates opened. Williams hit a three on a night when points were scarce to get us to a 49-39 lead.  Then a trey by Smith and another basket by Carrington and we led 59-42. Stanford dominated the 4th quarter 26-10 more the way we have recently been used to seeing.  Tara took a time out with 2 minutes left for substitution, and we coasted home to a win that looks much much larger than the difficulty of the game suggested.  Final score Stanford 71-49.

Performances

Smith traded roles with Fingall today.  After picking up a first quick foul in the 1st quarter, she went the rest of the game without another.  This allowed her to score 25 points on 10/18 shooting, and 3/6 from downtown.  This with 8 rebounds as well.  In a low scoring game when every point came with difficulty, those 25 points were critical and Smith contributed to the breakout fourth quarter.

Carrington deserves immense credit, coming back from a bruising to score 12 on 6/7 shooting--much of it at crunch time.  She was also second only to Smith in rebounding with 7.  She is a player I trust when things are not going well to put out maximum effort and make scrappy plays.

Fingall scored 10 points on 3/8 shooting and had 5 rebounds in 24 minutes.  Dodson played 18 minutes and was 2/4.  Brown had 4 points and an assist in 12 minutes.

Williams had 9 points and was 2/6 from three point range, but more importantly had 7 assists.  Overall we had 26 assists on 33 made baskets which is quite good.

Not sure what happened to Anna Wilson, who started but played just 5 minutes, coming out for Lacey.  Lacey played 33 minutes but didn't make a basket, although she made some hustle plays and had at least one steal. 

As a team, we shot 42% and held American to 37%.  We had a  +15 rebounding advantage.  While we had a couple of bad stretches with turnovers, we had just 12 for the game, so this was an improvement over last night.  We had 36 to their 22 points in the paint, and impressively 12 steals to their 3.

Conclusion:

Without the ability to see the game it is hard to diagnose what happened.  Our defense was effective but it seems that American found a defense that was effective too.  The announcer said they were using player defense at the start of the game so this was our chance to put the Princeton in motion.  The announcer did not really comment on the nature of our offense or diagnose why it was limping along.  The rough first half in which the refs let a lot of spills go uncalled may have contributed.  More fouls were called in the second half and perhaps that loosened things up for the fourth quarter. Prior to that, we seemed to have had problems getting to the rim, and our three point shooting was less effective than usual, too.

[81alum]

Stanford vs. American

Stanford starts the same five as yesterday: Fingall Smith Carrington Wilson Williams

Lexie is wearing a boot.

First Quarter

American began in player on player defense and we turned it over on our first possession.  After a couple of misses and an American turnover Smith got a turnaround jumper for the first points, but then Alanna picked up an early foul on defense trying to stop a back door cut and left for Dodson.  Then Nadia hit a three to get her scoring started.   Dijonai however seems to have been injured and limped off the floor only four minutes into the game, favoring her left leg with the brace and returned to the locker room.  Lacey came in for D.  Williams, meanwhile, got back to her normal long range bombing and made a trey for an 11-2 lead, and Lacey followed that with a steal off an inbounds.  Alexa entered the rotation with Lexie and Dijonai nursing injuries, and Alanna got into the trey game with a long-range-make for a 15-6 lead.  Pretty good defense and slightly disjointed offense with 3 treys concluded the first quarter Stanford 17-10.

Second Quarter

With the football game resuming after halftime on the other channel, my updates will slow down a little.  Carrington did come back after the first quarter and checked back into the game.  Whew!  Smith opened the second quarter with a trey, followed with a layup.  The game seemed to become a defensive slugfest for a stretch, but we clawed our way to a 24-12 lead early in the 2nd quarter.  The officials allowed a lot of rough contact on both sides, according to the announcer.   Nadia went out after crashing her hip into the floor.  A couple of minutes later, Kiana Williams went down and hobbled off the court.  Despite the carnage, we clung to a 30-23 lead by the end of the half as our team of mostly non-starters backups could not score points over the past 4 minutes.  

The first half was a poor offensive show, with only 32% shooting, but a good defensively, holding American to 23 points for the half.  Smith finished the half with 10 points and kept away from any more fouls--six of her points came from long range.  From the game call we were not getting the ball inside that successfully.

Third Quarter

Tara started Lacey, Fingall, Carrington, Smith, and Williams, so Carrington, Fingall and Williams all seemed to be good to go, despite a few bruises.  The third quarter started poorly with some misses and American closed the gap to 32-26, but Kianna got a long pass from Smith for a fast break basket.  Then American went on a 5-0 run to close the gap to 5.  Through most of the third the game certainly seemed closer than perhaps Stanford expected, and the announcer noted that we looked tired compared with last night.  Turnovers and cold shooting helped this defensive slugfest crawl to a 45-39 lead, much too close for comfort.

Fourth Quarter

We opened with a 2-3 zone with Lacie at the top of it.  Then the floodgates opened. Williams hit a three on a night when points were scarce to get us to a 49-39 lead.  Then a trey by Smith and another basket by Carrington and we led 59-42. Stanford dominated the 4th quarter 26-10 more the way we have recently been used to seeing.  Tara took a time out with 2 minutes left for substitution, and we coasted home to a win that looks much much larger than the difficulty of the game suggested.  Final score Stanford 71-49.

Performances

Smith traded roles with Fingall today.  After picking up a first quick foul in the 1st quarter, she went the rest of the game without another.  This allowed her to score 25 points on 10/18 shooting, and 3/6 from downtown.  This with 8 rebounds as well.  In a low scoring game when every point came with difficulty, those 25 points were critical and Smith contributed to the breakout fourth quarter.

Carrington deserves immense credit, coming back from a bruising to score 12 on 6/7 shooting--much of it at crunch time.  She was also second only to Smith in rebounding with 7.  She is a player I trust when things are not going well to put out maximum effort and make scrappy plays.

Fingall scored 10 points on 3/8 shooting and had 5 rebounds in 24 minutes.  Dodson played 18 minutes and was 2/4.  Brown had 4 points and an assist in 12 minutes.

Williams had 9 points and was 2/6 from three point range, but more importantly had 7 assists.  Overall we had 26 assists on 33 made baskets which is quite good.

Not sure what happened to Anna Wilson, who started but played just 5 minutes, coming out for Lacey.  Lacey played 33 minutes but didn't make a basket, although she made some hustle plays and had at least one steal. 

As a team, we shot 42% and held American to 37%.  We had a  +15 rebounding advantage.  While we had a couple of bad stretches with turnovers, we had just 12 for the game, so this was an improvement over last night.  We had 36 to their 22 points in the paint, and impressively 12 steals to their 3.

Conclusion:

Without the ability to see the game it is hard to diagnose what happened.  Our defense was effective but it seems that American found a defense that was effective too.  The announcer said they were using player defense at the start of the game so this was our chance to put the Princeton in motion.  The announcer did not really comment on the nature of our offense or diagnose why it was limping along.  The rough first half in which the refs let a lot of spills go uncalled may have contributed.  More fouls were called in the second half and perhaps that loosened things up for the fourth quarter. Prior to that, we seemed to have had problems getting to the rim, and our three point shooting was less effective than usual, too.

[JJJ]

Dijonai is back on the bench after going off to the locker room.

---

And D is now playing none the worse for the wear

---

Missing lots of point blank shots but we’re in the lead.

[JJJ]

Dijonai is back on the bench after going off to the locker room.

---

And D is now playing none the worse for the wear

---

Missing lots of point blank shots but we’re in the lead.

[TheFarm07]

We are only up by 7 at half as we are shooting atrociously and worse than American

Haven't listened, but our offense sounds like it's ice cold

[TheFarm07]

We are only up by 7 at half as we are shooting atrociously and worse than American

Haven't listened, but our offense sounds like it's ice cold

[JJJ]

It did look just like the men's Bahamas tourney with a lid on the basket for a while.
The final quarter was much more enjoyable. And DiJonai seemed to be everywhere after her early scare of an injury.

American hung tough with No. 8 Stanford for about three quarters, but faded down the stretch.
 
Alanna Smith scored a season-high 25 points and Stanford beat American 71-49 in the Rainbow Wahine Showdown on Saturday.
 
DiJonai Carrington added 13 points for the Cardinal (5-0), which never trailed and led by as many as 22 points.

http://gostanford.com/news/2018/11/24/wo...retch.aspx

[JJJ]

It did look just like the men's Bahamas tourney with a lid on the basket for a while.
The final quarter was much more enjoyable. And DiJonai seemed to be everywhere after her early scare of an injury.

American hung tough with No. 8 Stanford for about three quarters, but faded down the stretch.
 
Alanna Smith scored a season-high 25 points and Stanford beat American 71-49 in the Rainbow Wahine Showdown on Saturday.
 
DiJonai Carrington added 13 points for the Cardinal (5-0), which never trailed and led by as many as 22 points.

http://gostanford.com/news/2018/11/24/wo...retch.aspx

[triangle2]

Odd thought - Carrington reminds me of Sarunas Marciulionis. Same high-energy fearlessness. Similar willingness to go up against big players in the paint. Same tendency to pick up offensive fouls. Also, a similar great ability to grab offensive boards in traffic against taller players. 
Sarunus popped into my head when I saw Carrington's stat line from the FGCU game. Five shots, fifteen free throw attempts, 9 boards. That's some aggressiveness in action.

Sarunus was an early proponent of the Eurostep in the NBA - which I think I've seen Carrington try (and get called for traveling). Actually, the Eurostep would be a great move for her.

[triangle2]

Odd thought - Carrington reminds me of Sarunas Marciulionis. Same high-energy fearlessness. Similar willingness to go up against big players in the paint. Same tendency to pick up offensive fouls. Also, a similar great ability to grab offensive boards in traffic against taller players. 
Sarunus popped into my head when I saw Carrington's stat line from the FGCU game. Five shots, fifteen free throw attempts, 9 boards. That's some aggressiveness in action.

Sarunus was an early proponent of the Eurostep in the NBA - which I think I've seen Carrington try (and get called for traveling). Actually, the Eurostep would be a great move for her.

[JJJ]

Some uncorroborated observations:
American turned up their defensive intensity when they came within 5 or so, like they were smelling an upset. That subsided as our lead grew in 4Q.
The refs seemed iffy--many in the stands (I use that term liberally) were not happy on both sides.
We really should've had the 4Q kind of lopsidedness all game long, but the the point-blank shots and the good looks just weren't falling in for us.
I would be exaggerating if I said there were more than 100 fans there (outside of friends/family of both teams).
Hopefully, there will be a bigger showing vs UH tomorrow.
First time to see a game in person in years, and I was more favorably impressed than watching on TV. This team is going to do great things. But Dodson and Carrington just jumped out as being bigger/faster/fiercer than anyone else. And Lacie Hull and Wilson deserve kudos for taking one (or more) for the team.

[JJJ]

Some uncorroborated observations:
American turned up their defensive intensity when they came within 5 or so, like they were smelling an upset. That subsided as our lead grew in 4Q.
The refs seemed iffy--many in the stands (I use that term liberally) were not happy on both sides.
We really should've had the 4Q kind of lopsidedness all game long, but the the point-blank shots and the good looks just weren't falling in for us.
I would be exaggerating if I said there were more than 100 fans there (outside of friends/family of both teams).
Hopefully, there will be a bigger showing vs UH tomorrow.
First time to see a game in person in years, and I was more favorably impressed than watching on TV. This team is going to do great things. But Dodson and Carrington just jumped out as being bigger/faster/fiercer than anyone else. And Lacie Hull and Wilson deserve kudos for taking one (or more) for the team.

[Jskass]

Hoping they have the Vancouver Showcase again next year, with Stanford. OSU lost to Notre Dame but led most of the game. Might have won if they had post presence. Pivec and Slocum on all tourney team with Notre Dame’s Young and Ogunbowale (who got an unsportsmanlike for throwing an elbow).

[Jskass]

Hoping they have the Vancouver Showcase again next year, with Stanford. OSU lost to Notre Dame but led most of the game. Might have won if they had post presence. Pivec and Slocum on all tourney team with Notre Dame’s Young and Ogunbowale (who got an unsportsmanlike for throwing an elbow).

[81alum]

Some uncorroborated observations:
American turned up their defensive intensity when they came within 5 or so, like they were smelling an upset. That subsided as our lead grew in 4Q.
The refs seemed iffy--many in the stands (I use that term liberally) were not happy on both sides.
We really should've had the 4Q kind of lopsidedness all game long, but the the point-blank shots and the good looks just weren't falling in for us.
I would be exaggerating if I said there were more than 100 fans there (outside of friends/family of both teams).
Hopefully, there will be a bigger showing vs UH tomorrow.
First time to see a game in person in years, and I was more favorably impressed than watching on TV. This team is going to do great things. But Dodson and Carrington just jumped out as being bigger/faster/fiercer than anyone else. And Lacie Hull and Wilson deserve kudos for taking one (or more) for the team.

JJJ, since you were there, what did our offense look like it was doing in quarters 1-3?  The announcer said that American was playing man at first.  Did they switch to zone or stay in man?  Were we running the Princeton against it?  (Did you see players shuffling themselves, cutting diagonally through the key, running baseline, passing from the elbow, etc?)

I ask because we have been getting a lot more practice and success playing against the zone this year, while the Princeton, which we only use against man, seems not to be super effective.  It is a reversal from previous years, almost.

[81alum]

Some uncorroborated observations:
American turned up their defensive intensity when they came within 5 or so, like they were smelling an upset. That subsided as our lead grew in 4Q.
The refs seemed iffy--many in the stands (I use that term liberally) were not happy on both sides.
We really should've had the 4Q kind of lopsidedness all game long, but the the point-blank shots and the good looks just weren't falling in for us.
I would be exaggerating if I said there were more than 100 fans there (outside of friends/family of both teams).
Hopefully, there will be a bigger showing vs UH tomorrow.
First time to see a game in person in years, and I was more favorably impressed than watching on TV. This team is going to do great things. But Dodson and Carrington just jumped out as being bigger/faster/fiercer than anyone else. And Lacie Hull and Wilson deserve kudos for taking one (or more) for the team.

JJJ, since you were there, what did our offense look like it was doing in quarters 1-3?  The announcer said that American was playing man at first.  Did they switch to zone or stay in man?  Were we running the Princeton against it?  (Did you see players shuffling themselves, cutting diagonally through the key, running baseline, passing from the elbow, etc?)

I ask because we have been getting a lot more practice and success playing against the zone this year, while the Princeton, which we only use against man, seems not to be super effective.  It is a reversal from previous years, almost.

[JJJ]

Some uncorroborated observations:
American turned up their defensive intensity when they came within 5 or so, like they were smelling an upset. That subsided as our lead grew in 4Q.
The refs seemed iffy--many in the stands (I use that term liberally) were not happy on both sides.
We really should've had the 4Q kind of lopsidedness all game long, but the the point-blank shots and the good looks just weren't falling in for us.
I would be exaggerating if I said there were more than 100 fans there (outside of friends/family of both teams).
Hopefully, there will be a bigger showing vs UH tomorrow.
First time to see a game in person in years, and I was more favorably impressed than watching on TV. This team is going to do great things. But Dodson and Carrington just jumped out as being bigger/faster/fiercer than anyone else. And Lacie Hull and Wilson deserve kudos for taking one (or more) for the team.

JJJ, since you were there, what did our offense look like it was doing in quarters 1-3?  The announcer said that American was playing man at first.  Did they switch to zone or stay in man?  Were we running the Princeton against it?  (Did you see players shuffling themselves, cutting diagonally through the key, running baseline, passing from the elbow, etc?)

I ask because we have been getting a lot more practice and success playing against the zone this year, while the Princeton, which we only use against man, seems not to be super effective.  It is a reversal from previous years, almost.

Gosh, great questions and sorry not to be observant enough. I believe we were in the Princeton most of the game but wasn’t really paying attention to it other than in the context of rooting for our team to score. We just had many mistakes in Q1-3 due to ill-advised passes, missed bunnies, poor FT, etc that kept American in the game. I believe you’ll be able to watch today’s game. I’ll be wearing cardinal. :)

[JJJ]

Some uncorroborated observations:
American turned up their defensive intensity when they came within 5 or so, like they were smelling an upset. That subsided as our lead grew in 4Q.
The refs seemed iffy--many in the stands (I use that term liberally) were not happy on both sides.
We really should've had the 4Q kind of lopsidedness all game long, but the the point-blank shots and the good looks just weren't falling in for us.
I would be exaggerating if I said there were more than 100 fans there (outside of friends/family of both teams).
Hopefully, there will be a bigger showing vs UH tomorrow.
First time to see a game in person in years, and I was more favorably impressed than watching on TV. This team is going to do great things. But Dodson and Carrington just jumped out as being bigger/faster/fiercer than anyone else. And Lacie Hull and Wilson deserve kudos for taking one (or more) for the team.

JJJ, since you were there, what did our offense look like it was doing in quarters 1-3?  The announcer said that American was playing man at first.  Did they switch to zone or stay in man?  Were we running the Princeton against it?  (Did you see players shuffling themselves, cutting diagonally through the key, running baseline, passing from the elbow, etc?)

I ask because we have been getting a lot more practice and success playing against the zone this year, while the Princeton, which we only use against man, seems not to be super effective.  It is a reversal from previous years, almost.

Gosh, great questions and sorry not to be observant enough. I believe we were in the Princeton most of the game but wasn’t really paying attention to it other than in the context of rooting for our team to score. We just had many mistakes in Q1-3 due to ill-advised passes, missed bunnies, poor FT, etc that kept American in the game. I believe you’ll be able to watch today’s game. I’ll be wearing cardinal. :)

[81alum]

Stanford vs. Hawaii

Summary of pregame interview with Tara: 

Kiana did not shoot well in first 3 quarters.  With Lexie out we haven't had that 3rd perimeter shooter.  American was really packed in and we kept going inside instead of pitching out.  And we missed 5 "complete bunnies."  Most consistent play has been from Nadia.  Tara credited Lacey with 7 steals.  She also had 3 assists that were not credited in the stat sheet.  As for why we were playing zone, Tara said it was a good change of pace in both games so far.  It is nice to bring it out in the second half when the other team doesn't have a chance to make adjustments.  Tara says Hawaii is a big, physical team and we will have to defend the pick and roll and their physicality. 

Flow of the game:

Tara started Wilson, Carrington, Williams, Fingall, and Smith.   Smith got into foul trouble early, again, with an offensive foul in the key backing into a defender.  The first quarter was another slow start for us, with Hawaii's very aggressive 2-3 zone able to get out to the perimeter and bother our three point shooting.  Hawaii is not a good shooting team, however, and the quarter ended Stanford 15 Hawaii 8. 

In the second quarter Tara used a 2-3 zone and reinserted Alanna and gradually we began to get our offense in sync--largely as Alanna began to get hot.  We broke it open on a 12-0 run on Smiths 5/7 shooting, 4/4 from in close.  Carrington and Fingall each had 7 and Lacie had 5 assists and 3 steals and a block in the half--she is the epitome of a hustle player.  Kiana's three point shot was off, as she was 0/4.  We'll have to watch this since her 60% three point shooting was bound to cool off at some point, and it appears to have been on the Hawaii trip.  Still, it was all enough for a 40-22 lead at the half.

In the second half Tara returned to the original starters, so Wilson was back in.  It rapidly turned into the Alanna Smith show.  She was showing off a back to the basket move that looked for all the world like the old triangle.  Tara pulled her out once she had 25 points and let others have a turn.  They kept the scoring going but relaxed on defense, making the third into a 24-24 quarter. 

For the fourth Tara put the starters back with Lacie instead of Wilson.  Hawaii hung around 20 points down largely on the strength of their three point shooting--12 of 18 at one point.  For much of the fourth quarter Tara had in Wilson and sophomores and freshmen players--it looked like the JV team, and it held up OK.  Then, with one minute left, Anna Wilson went down off camera and play continued for a time with her out of the frame.  After a long pause they called the game with 48 seconds left after what seemed to be a serious injury, with the viewers being left in the dark.

Postscript:

The game and all post-game festivities were cancelled. A stretcher arrived 15 minutes later.  Fans report an announcement that Anna was conscious and being take to the hospital for evaluation.

I don't really feel like finishing my usual write-up at this point.  We will wait to see what happens with Anna.

[81alum]

Stanford vs. Hawaii

Summary of pregame interview with Tara: 

Kiana did not shoot well in first 3 quarters.  With Lexie out we haven't had that 3rd perimeter shooter.  American was really packed in and we kept going inside instead of pitching out.  And we missed 5 "complete bunnies."  Most consistent play has been from Nadia.  Tara credited Lacey with 7 steals.  She also had 3 assists that were not credited in the stat sheet.  As for why we were playing zone, Tara said it was a good change of pace in both games so far.  It is nice to bring it out in the second half when the other team doesn't have a chance to make adjustments.  Tara says Hawaii is a big, physical team and we will have to defend the pick and roll and their physicality. 

Flow of the game:

Tara started Wilson, Carrington, Williams, Fingall, and Smith.   Smith got into foul trouble early, again, with an offensive foul in the key backing into a defender.  The first quarter was another slow start for us, with Hawaii's very aggressive 2-3 zone able to get out to the perimeter and bother our three point shooting.  Hawaii is not a good shooting team, however, and the quarter ended Stanford 15 Hawaii 8. 

In the second quarter Tara used a 2-3 zone and reinserted Alanna and gradually we began to get our offense in sync--largely as Alanna began to get hot.  We broke it open on a 12-0 run on Smiths 5/7 shooting, 4/4 from in close.  Carrington and Fingall each had 7 and Lacie had 5 assists and 3 steals and a block in the half--she is the epitome of a hustle player.  Kiana's three point shot was off, as she was 0/4.  We'll have to watch this since her 60% three point shooting was bound to cool off at some point, and it appears to have been on the Hawaii trip.  Still, it was all enough for a 40-22 lead at the half.

In the second half Tara returned to the original starters, so Wilson was back in.  It rapidly turned into the Alanna Smith show.  She was showing off a back to the basket move that looked for all the world like the old triangle.  Tara pulled her out once she had 25 points and let others have a turn.  They kept the scoring going but relaxed on defense, making the third into a 24-24 quarter. 

For the fourth Tara put the starters back with Lacie instead of Wilson.  Hawaii hung around 20 points down largely on the strength of their three point shooting--12 of 18 at one point.  For much of the fourth quarter Tara had in Wilson and sophomores and freshmen players--it looked like the JV team, and it held up OK.  Then, with one minute left, Anna Wilson went down off camera and play continued for a time with her out of the frame.  After a long pause they called the game with 48 seconds left after what seemed to be a serious injury, with the viewers being left in the dark.

Postscript:

The game and all post-game festivities were cancelled. A stretcher arrived 15 minutes later.  Fans report an announcement that Anna was conscious and being take to the hospital for evaluation.

I don't really feel like finishing my usual write-up at this point.  We will wait to see what happens with Anna.

[crackpot]

anybody getting the stream?

---

anybody getting the stream?

...stupid Flash

[crackpot]

anybody getting the stream?

---

anybody getting the stream?

...stupid Flash

[2006alum]

Got it here: http://bigwest.sidearmstreaming.com/watch/?Live=1564

Running chrome in in cognito mode seems to work - some ad/tracking blocker was preventing it on my normal chrome.

BTW- are the hoops on this court hexagonal? Or maybe Hawaii just put a hex on them? Either way, we can't seem to find a way to get the basket to go into them. And even Williams is looking hesitant to go for a trey when she's left open. We seem afraid to shoot.

On the other hand, since the refs are calling fouls left, right, and center, we're getting to the line plenty...

[2006alum]

Got it here: http://bigwest.sidearmstreaming.com/watch/?Live=1564

Running chrome in in cognito mode seems to work - some ad/tracking blocker was preventing it on my normal chrome.

BTW- are the hoops on this court hexagonal? Or maybe Hawaii just put a hex on them? Either way, we can't seem to find a way to get the basket to go into them. And even Williams is looking hesitant to go for a trey when she's left open. We seem afraid to shoot.

On the other hand, since the refs are calling fouls left, right, and center, we're getting to the line plenty...

[mbdude]

if they could make layups we would be down a bunch - defense is terrible

[mbdude]

if they could make layups we would be down a bunch - defense is terrible

[2006alum]

Random thoughts:

Liking our defensive rebounding. In addition to our usual suspects, Wilson had some great grabs, and Jerome was fighting and winning some with some nice box out moves. And Lacie is just an insane, fast-moving steal machine - it's like she's a podcast playing at 1.5x while everyone else on the court is stuck at 1x.

Right now, our bigs seem to be the only ones feeling their shot - I missed a few early minutes, but until Carrington hit a trey with 3 minutes remaining in the half, Fingall and Smith are the only ones I've seen make non-layup baskets, including treys. They've mostly been playing zone, and it's seemed to be fairly effective at keeping us from cutting inside, though we started to crack it late in the half. Not coincidentally, once we hit a few treys, they stopped sagging, and then we had cuts inside. Not sure why, but with no fouls Fingall went out and Coffee went in for significant minutes at the end.

I still have trouble figuring out when we're running Princeton sets and when we're not, but I will say this: when we go cold from outside, the zone still seems to shut us down. We have more and better three-point shooters than we did last season, but it seems like this is going to be a recurring problem.

Lastly, Dodson still seems to move like that teenaged dog whose legs grew six inches in a month and trips over itself - there was one Alley Oop from Williams that became more of an "Alley Oops" as Dodson just plowed into her defender. The contrast between how she controls her body in traffic and, say, Jerome, is really striking.

[2006alum]

Random thoughts:

Liking our defensive rebounding. In addition to our usual suspects, Wilson had some great grabs, and Jerome was fighting and winning some with some nice box out moves. And Lacie is just an insane, fast-moving steal machine - it's like she's a podcast playing at 1.5x while everyone else on the court is stuck at 1x.

Right now, our bigs seem to be the only ones feeling their shot - I missed a few early minutes, but until Carrington hit a trey with 3 minutes remaining in the half, Fingall and Smith are the only ones I've seen make non-layup baskets, including treys. They've mostly been playing zone, and it's seemed to be fairly effective at keeping us from cutting inside, though we started to crack it late in the half. Not coincidentally, once we hit a few treys, they stopped sagging, and then we had cuts inside. Not sure why, but with no fouls Fingall went out and Coffee went in for significant minutes at the end.

I still have trouble figuring out when we're running Princeton sets and when we're not, but I will say this: when we go cold from outside, the zone still seems to shut us down. We have more and better three-point shooters than we did last season, but it seems like this is going to be a recurring problem.

Lastly, Dodson still seems to move like that teenaged dog whose legs grew six inches in a month and trips over itself - there was one Alley Oop from Williams that became more of an "Alley Oops" as Dodson just plowed into her defender. The contrast between how she controls her body in traffic and, say, Jerome, is really striking.

[mbdude]

we need 1 of the Hulls on the floor all the time, even if they don't score

[mbdude]

we need 1 of the Hulls on the floor all the time, even if they don't score

[M T]

if they could make layups we would be down a bunch - defense is terrible

At the half, even if Hawaii scored on every layup they missed, they would still be behind

Hawaii scored 8 in the first quarter and 14  in the second.  At the half, they're on a pace  to 44.

"defense is terrible"    What do you want???

  Smith got into foul trouble early, again, with an offensive foul in the key backing into a defender. 

Tara always substitutes for players after they get fouls.  I wouldn't have termed one foul in a half as getting in trouble.

[M T]

if they could make layups we would be down a bunch - defense is terrible

At the half, even if Hawaii scored on every layup they missed, they would still be behind

Hawaii scored 8 in the first quarter and 14  in the second.  At the half, they're on a pace  to 44.

"defense is terrible"    What do you want???

  Smith got into foul trouble early, again, with an offensive foul in the key backing into a defender. 

Tara always substitutes for players after they get fouls.  I wouldn't have termed one foul in a half as getting in trouble.

[2006alum]

Here's a crazy stat, probably due to us playing a fair amount of zone: they're 80% from outside, but only shooting 37.5% overall.

[2006alum]

Here's a crazy stat, probably due to us playing a fair amount of zone: they're 80% from outside, but only shooting 37.5% overall.